Ground-beef and sausage products have seen a boost in popularity over the last few years, for several reasons. Both products are popular for their taste and versatility, certainly, but they are also popular because of their price points.

New technology and safety standards are improving workplace safety for slicing operators.

With the increased focus on reducing salt and fat in meat products, what are the challenges that processors face in producing formed products, such as patties, nuggets, etc.?

General differences exist between frozen meat products and many other frozen foods. The most obvious difference is the size of the product pieces, with most frozen meat products having larger masses. This results in longer freezing times and higher operating costs for many meat and poultry processors.

Tip Top Poultry, of Marietta, Ga., is the largest baking and stewing hen marketer in the United States and a major supplier of individually quick-frozen (IQF) cooked, pulled and diced chicken meat to the foodservice and industrial market sectors.

Anticipated regulations and innovations are changing injection and marinade formulas for meat and poultry processors.

Advances in LED lighting provide more efficiency and accuracy for vision systems.

As automated systems improve, processors continue to push harder to get even better yields off carcasses.

Technology is improving process control at meat and poultry plants.

Versatile slicers help processors produce the growing number of package sizes and slice widths on the market.